TMU Suffers Its First Loss of the Year

The Master's University men's basketball team gave up a second-half lead and lost an emotional game against the Antelope Valley Pioneers 72-66 Wednesday night in The MacArthur Center.
 
Foul trouble coupled with poor shooting in the first half handicapped the Mustangs (3-1) early on, which lead to the team's first loss of the season.
 
"I think we took too long to react to their physicality in the first half," said The Master's Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "In the second half we played more to our style and matched the physicality. But give (Antelope Valley) credit for coming in and playing their tails off."
 
The first half was not what the Mustangs are used to. Coming into the game, The Master's was shooting over 52% from the field. But in the first half Wednesday night, the team shot just 37%, and just 3-of-13 from 3-point range. Antelope Valley, by contrast, shot 16-of-28 (57%), including 3-of-5 from behind the arc, to take a 40-30 lead into the break.
 
That physicality also got The Master's into foul trouble. Caden Starr, coming off a career-high 25 points last week against Oklahoma City, found the bench early when he picked up two quick fouls. Deondre Early had to also come out after he picked up his second.
 
"We got pushed out of our offense and we didn't play like men in that first half," Starr said. "We told them (at halftime) they needed to be more physical, match their intensity level, and play like men."
 
And that's when the men started to play. TMU came out firing to open the second half, going on a 24-7 run in the first 9:20 to take a seven-point lead 54-47. But someone forgot to tell the Pioneers, a team chosen to finish second in the CalPac Conference, to roll over and let The Master's win. AVU out-scored TMU 25-12 in the final 10:40 to win by six.
 
"We got a little trigger happy in the second half and took too many quick shots," Starr said. 
 
Kaleb Lowery led the Mustangs with 17 points and 14 rebounds, his second double-double of the season. Jordan Starr finished with 14 points and five assists, with Christian Sweazie adding 12 points and another five assists.
 
As Coach Starr points out, a loss to a good team before conference play begins can be a very good thing.
 
"We learned a lot of things tonight," he said. "It's not bad to get humbled early in the year. The good news is we get to get back into the gym tomorrow and get better in practice."
 
The Master's will be back in action Saturday night when they host California Lutheran in their final game before their GSAC schedule begins. Tip-off Saturday is scheduled for 6 p.m.